Jennifer Aston

Jennifer Aston is an Associate Professor in Law and Faculty Director of Quality Assurance (Business & Law) at Northumbria University. She holds an Associate Membership at Macquarie University's Centre for Workforce Futures. Previously, she held roles at Oxford, Birmingham, and Hull universities, and the EHS Eileen Power Research Fellowship at the Institute of Historical Research.

Education: PhD in History (2012).

Research Interests: Gender and small business ownership, bankruptcy law, legal history, and Victorian/Edwardian societal structures. Her work explores intersections between gender, legal systems, and economic institutions through projects like a multidisciplinary divorce history methodology and bankruptcy analysis in Edwardian Britain.

Awards:

• Highly Commended, Harley Prize 2022 (Journal of Legal History article)
• 2023 Student Led Teaching Award for Outstanding Contribution to Arts/Design/Social Sciences

Advising & Grants:

• Supervises four PhD students on topics including criminal justice, cathedral histories, migration, and science networks
• ESRC New Investigator Award for divorce history project
• Economic History Society Grant for Edwardian bankruptcy study

Teaching includes legal history modules and leadership of the 'Law Pathway' program collaborating with The National Archives and Tyne & Wear Museums.